Università degli studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia

Università degli Studi di Modena e Reggio Emilia
Corso di laurea in infermieristica - Sede di Modena

Abstract

This thesis aims to highlight some emergent criticalities of nurses in situations such as therapeutic hardening and euthanasia and search for possible guides to support and make appropriate nursing care. The study has shown that the main concerns are the relieving of the physical and moral pain of the patient and of the significant persons, by maintaining respect for his dignity, observing the ethical principles, the norms in force in our country and managing it forms of distress that may arise in nursing staff. Among the possible solutions emerged: palliative care, the consideration of the wills previously stated by the assisted, the importance for the operators of guiding the ethical principles and the guidelines dictated by the Code of Ethics among which the Italian one is currently in force (IPASVI Federation, 2009) and the International Council of Nurses (2012). Another aspect that emerged as possible support for nursing care was an effective and constructive comparison between practitioners as well as good communication within the multidisciplinary team, aspects that can help with dealing with moral distress situations. Six interviews were conducted with staff from the nursing and medical profession. For research and bibliographic research, PubMed and Google Scholar databases have been screened using keywords as appropriate, depending on the subject matter, therapeutic obstinacy, euthanasia, nurse, moral distress, biomedical ethics. The study looked at both primary studies by authors, and secondary in the form of review of literature, consulted by sources such as the American Journal of Critical Care, Nursing Ethics, Journal of Medical Ethics and articles published on the Web.